San Juans ares regarding road conditions, trailheads, BLM

Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
spizzo
Posts: 12
Joined: 7/10/2011
Trip Reports (0)
 

San Juans ares regarding road conditions, trailheads, BLM

Post by spizzo »

Good morning! This July 20-August 4 will be our fourth time to the San Juan area and we have a pretty solid agenda including some summits, day hikes, and back-packing. But we definitely have some questions that hopefully someone can help us with!

1. Wondering about road up to Highland Mary Lakes. For access (we will have a rental car), do we need 4 Wheel high clearance? Also, regarding Highland Mary area, is there dispersed camping in that area? Also, has anyone done a hike to Clear Lake and or Columbine Lake and if so do you recommend one or both?

2. In Telluride area we were wondering about Trout Lake and road conditions of Forest Road 627 to Hope Lake Trailhead ? Also, has anyone backpacked into Bilk Basin? Are there good overnight sites there?

Thank you, Lynne and Steve
colluvium
Posts: 58
Joined: 7/14/2012
14ers: 10 
13ers: 35
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: San Juans ares regarding road conditions, trailheads, BLM

Post by colluvium »

I can help with #2 ... the road to the Hope Lake Trailhead is sedan-able. Regarding Bilk basin - eh, no, uh, nowhere to camp there, not worth seeing... Just kidding - it's a locals favorite, especially the upper basin. If you start from Sunshine Mesa (as I always do), be prepared for a potential adventure in crossing Bilk Creek. I usually carry extra lightweight footwear specifically for that. Enjoy!
User avatar
dwoodward13
Posts: 851
Joined: 3/26/2011
14ers: 58  12 
13ers: 170 6
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: San Juans ares regarding road conditions, trailheads, BLM

Post by dwoodward13 »

As for #1, 2wd can usually get pretty far up but the higher you get the rougher its going to be so you may need to park short. There is a stream crossing just prior to the TH that may pose an issue for low clearance. If you have an SUV style rental you can probably get there? Note most rental agreements forbid off pavement travel.

As far as car dispersed camping, there was some lower down on the road but from memory that was pretty much it, and it was crowded. That area is amazing for backpacking though. There isn't a lot of cover so it could be "interesting" if storms roll in. Camping at Eldorado Lake was an amazing experience. The rest of the Highland Mary lakes look equally great.
User avatar
spizzo
Posts: 12
Joined: 7/10/2011
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: San Juans ares regarding road conditions, trailheads, BLM

Post by spizzo »

Collu & D wood, thank you very much for your replies and information. Very much appreciate it! Lynne & Steve